First Steps to Active Health: Balance and Flexibility Exercises for Older Adults

First Steps to Active Health: Balance and Flexibility Exercises for Older Adults

Health-care providers need evidence-based and easy-to-use programs to educate their patients on increasing physical activity. The purpose of this paper is to describe specific interventions to improve balance and flexibility as a means of improving health and functional ability, as well as to prevent chronic disease and disability, in older adults. The paper provides specific balance and flexibility exercises that are part of First Steps to Active Health, a standardized, inexpensive, turnkey program for healthcare professionals to promote physical activity among older adults.